A new A new kind of kind of

publishinpublishingg

Rhodé Odendaal (General Manager)

Marí Visagie (Online Publisher)

NLSA 0620 issues

15/day in 2007 (3600)

Essence of self-publishingEssence of self-publishing • Primary principle:

– author carries all financial risk and responsibility for publishing, marketing, selling and distributing his/her publication

• Commercial self-publishing 2009 :– Charge authors for services rendered in

entire publishing process– Provide real and virtual marketing,sales and distribution channels

A global phenomenonA global phenomenon

• Internet self-publishing firms help authors with selling and creating awareness of their work

The write stuff (Tim Nott, Personal Computer

World, Jan 2009)

Self-publishersflourish as

Writers pay the tab

(Mokoto Rich,NYT, Jan 2009)

“we can’t promise you a bestseller, but we can

show you how to do it all yourself,

and at minimal cost” (PCW)

“During an economic downturn, books tailored to such narrow audiences may fare better than titles

from traditional publishersthat depend on a

more general appeal” (NYT, 2009)

“Self published books are a positive step towards allowing talented writers with little resources to print and

market their own talents” (SPR, 2009)

2002820K titles

5k every week400k in 2008 alone

Revenue doubled 2005-200637% growth from 2007-2008

New technology: PODNew technology: POD

• Single copies printed on order– no stock with no value and no risk

• Less commitment on author’s part and greater ROI: “Particularly in this economy, who wants to buy a certain amount of copies of their book?”

• Greater speed to get the book to market

• Environmental benefit of fewer printed copies

• B2C and B2B

More authors turn to Web and print-on-demand

Publishing (Elham Khatami,2008, CNN.com)

POD People(Jeremy Robinson,2006, Breakneck

Books)

HUMANINTERVENTION

AUTOMATEDRESPONSE

Publishing Package Micropayments

So Crink? So Crink?

South African online challengesSouth African online challenges• SA publishers only now catching up

on Internet BUT: – Use of mobile internet is

growing – rising 57% from Oct 2007 – Oct 2008.

– Studies have shown that mobile internet users are men aged 18-44

– Rick Joubert (Mobile Advertising at Vodacom) “9,5 million mobile internet users versus 5 million desktop users”

– Mobile affords users cheap internet access

– Popular sites visited includes Facebook, Google & Wikipedia

– Mobile a platform for the future

• Putting in place a digital strategy is not easy

– Not merely an extension of the marketing strategy

• Make it part of the business– Time

• Appoint a project coordinator– Money

• Expensive platform• Cutting out the middle man

– Research• Your competitor’s weakness &

strengths– Partners

• Printers, Finance department, IT company, Distributor

– Understanding technical jargon• Familiarize yourself with new

concepts– Reinvent your business backwards

and forwards• Are you a trend setter or

follower?

Taking your business onlineTaking your business online• Our development was outsourced• F-specs

– Your vision / focus point– The document that describes in detail the characteristics of the product to

its intended capability / describes the requested behaviour of a system– Purpose: consensus on what the platform should achieve, before you

spend time on the writing of the t-specs, source codes and debugging• T-specs

– It defines how the system is going to be built– You need to be certain exactly what technical features will be provided– Keep the specs updated

• User test data– Involve the team– Do role-play

• Debugging– Unsuspected and unwanted behaviour– Usually fixed free of charge

• Development contract– IP Rights & Management (Source code)

• SLA– Severs, hosting, maintenance, design, new development

• Online is dynamic and requires constant change• Year plan for new development and marketing (think long-term)• Google Analytics is your best friend

– Get the feet through the door

F - SpecF - Spec

T - SpecT - Spec SELL & SERVICES BUY

USERS

MY CRINK

COMMUNITY

PAGES & CONTENT

PUBLISH

•Shopping Cart

•Search Products•Payments•Order Tracking•Invoices

•Categories•Cover•Manuscript•Templates•Printing & Delivery

•Storefront•Friends•Forums•Blogs•Groups•Newsletters

•My Pages •Account•Profile•Services•Reports

•Pages•Tooltips & Labels•Copy•Notices•Documents•Communications

•Books•Service Directory•Get Noticed•Sale Tools•Distribution

•Registration

•Login•Permissions•Lost Password

Use case Use case & test & test datadata

Monetising the WebMonetising the Web

Key processes•Operational•Managerial

•Financial

Key resourcesPeople, technology, products, facilities,

equipment and brand that help to deliver your

CVP

Profit formula•Revenue model•Cost structure•Margin model

Customer Value Proposition

(CVP)helping a customer get an important job done,

better than the competition

You are in essence changing your business model.

Take off your print hat!

The same laws do not apply whenyou go online.

New economic principlesNew economic principles

• Wikinomics– wikinovel

• The Long Tail– most of our titles average sales of no

more than 200 per annum

• Increased Marginal Rate of Return– Heavy initial investment in platform, but

able to delivery product in more than one format

• Economics of the Free– We give away what is most basic and

vital to publishing – the process itself

The Long Tail(Chris Anderson,2006, Wired.com)

Wikinomics (Tapscott &

Williams, 2008, Atlantic Books)

The Cult of the Amateur

(Andrew Keen, 2007)

Social NetworkingSocial Networking

• Avatar – Jessica (people more easily identify with a fake character)– “No pressure Jessica, my lady . . .”– “Hoop jy’t ‘n lekker dag gehad, Liefde ”– “Who-ever had that bright idea should be treated

to a huge mega-Cappuccino and wacked on the back twice out of sheer gratitude”

• Blogs, forums, groups, rating systems, FB, “share this”

• Author shopfronts that can be linked to social network sites– “Look at me – I’m famous online” – Not all authors have personal websites

• SEO / Google Adwords / Google Adsense

Social NetworkingSocial Networking What to be aware of (Business 24/7):

•Small company•Very time consuming at first•Main goal is to increase traffic•How will we turn the increased traffic into money?•Most of the people doing the marketing has only recently started to use social networking.

Creating Digital StrategiesCreating Digital Strategies

• What and who are we? • What do we want to achieve – what

is our business strategy• Who is the audience?

– Individually/Collectively

• What does the audience want?• How will they look for us/find us?• What do we want them to believe?• Make them come back for more